VIDEO: Washington’s sex trafficking problem

This week, Parella Lewis of “Washington’s Most Wanted” on Q13 Fox aired the first of her two-part series on human trafficking in the Northwest.

She talked to former Congresswoman Linda Smith who started Shared Hope International, an organization to help victims out of the sex trade. Smith said the girls and young women get into prostitution through deception and abduction, and sometimes fall out of the foster care system and have no other support. She added Seattle is a major purchase zone,

Lewis, a former reserve officer in Louisiana, also talked to Tarna Derby-McCurtain of the FBI’s Innocence Lost Task Force and Lt. Eric Sano who works with the Seattle Police Department High Risk Victim’s Unit. He said sex trafficking is on the rise here.

“Human trafficking is a bigger deal in our state than it is in most states,” Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna told Lewis. The reason Washington has such a problem with the international sex trade is due to geography, he said.